“No, but you can come down and hit the earth pretty hard,” observed his father, grimly.
“Oh, but we don’t intend to come down,” said Ned. “Can’t we go, dad?”
The parents considered the matter in a sort of executive session, the boys being barred. Finally the lads were called into the library of Mrs. Hopkins’s home, where the conference was taking place. The boys looked anxiously at the faces of the older folks.
“Well?” inquired Jerry nervously.
“You may go,” replied his mother, with a little catch in her voice. “But you must promise to be very careful. You are going on a long trip—across the Rocky Mountains, as I understand it—and there may be all sorts of dangers.”
“Oh, we’ll be careful,” readily promised Jerry, and his chums eagerly assented.
Once all objections to their trip were removed, the boys lost no time in making their preparations. There was little to do to the Comet as it was nearly ready for a flight across the continent, but supplies and provisions must be put aboard and these took some time. At length, however, all was in readiness.
“I think we’ll give it a trial to-morrow,” said Jerry to his chums one night. “I want to see how the deflecting rudder works since I changed the angle. Then, if all is well, we’ll start the next day.”
As the three chums were about ready to start on the little test trip the following day, having run the airship out of the shed, they heard voices in conversation on the side of the gas bag opposite to them.